


And The Rest Is Silence

by Kaetien SaDiablo (Shadowcat)



Category: Black Jewels - Anne Bishop
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fandom High, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-28 16:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/309794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Kaetien%20SaDiablo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They thought that there would be plenty of time to get to safety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And The Rest Is Silence

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a filler for a plot that was happening at the RP game _Fandom High_ on LiveJournal. There was a major plot where worlds were getting eaten by The Nothing, and this is what teenage Cassidy had to witness.

She knew without asking that they were in serious trouble.

Her older brother was both pushing and pulling her along as they ran to the portal. They were both running as fast as they could, but the destruction following behind them seemed to be moving just as fast and she didn't know if they were going to make it.

"Aaron," Cassidy gasped out as they ran. "Did you send a message to him and his family about this?"

"Who the hell is Aaron?" Clayton snapped at her. "Hells fire, Cassidy! This is not the time for you to be coming up with questions that make no sense!"

She didn't blame Clayton for his tone. They had just seen some kind of black storm destroy their home village and everything they loved there. However, she couldn't stop the feeling of grief that swept through her -- or the horror of the realization that whatever was destroying their territory was all wiping the memory of their very existence out of the mind.

 _*Did you send a message to your friends and your Court?*_ Talking took too much energy, so Clayton had switched to a White communication thread. _*Lady Karla? Lady Shira? Your Professor Skywalker?*_

 _*I tried to send messages to them while we were requesting the portal --*_ And to someone not on the island of Fandom, but she wasn't ready to say anything about that right now. _*I don't know if any of my messages got through. Everything felt so strange and confusing.*_

 _*Well, we know now what caused that.*_ Clayton's mental tone was grim.

Woolskin was gone. Bhak was gone. It was knowledge of their destruction that had caused them to call for a portal to Fandom. She was planning to take her family back there with her where they would be safe from whatever was going on in Dharo. She could speak to Karla or Shira about helping her find her family a new home.

Those plans were never going to happen now, because she and Clayton were all that was left of what had been a happy and thriving village.

The two of them had been gathering cuttings from their mother's garden. Devra thought that they would be helpful for brews -- or for preserving _something_ of their village and by that, of their Territory.

It was Cassidy's sharp cry of distress that had caused Clayton to pause in harvesting. He watched as his sister's face drained of color and her freckles stood out far too darkly. _Mother Night. Please don't let her be ill. Not now. Not now when we're running out of time._

"Cassidy? What's wrong?"

She looked down at the ground beneath her feet, holding the cuttings in her hand to her chest. "The land! Oh, Clayton, the land!"

He didn't ask her what was bothering her about the land. If his sister and Queen said that something was happening to the land, he was going to believe her. What did scare him was the thought that if something was hurting the land, then it was going to hurt his sister, too. She had to get away from here before that happened.

It was at that moment that Clayton realized everything around him had gone silent. The Rose jewel he wore on a ring on his finger flared in alarm, and it was with dread that he turned around. He looked past his home and dropped his hoe in the dirt.

Where there should have been a road winding through the fields and then down into the village of Weaver's Field and off into the direction of Bhak, there was nothing. There was nothing but emptiness and what looked like a black wall of storm clouds coming towards them.

A very bad storm was coming.

For several tense moments, he looked back and forth between the approaching storm and his home where his parents were packing. Then, he looked at his sister.

Cassidy. His little sister. A loving person, a bright witch and someone who would one day grow up to be a strong and caring Queen.

Even before he sent the question to his father, he had already made his decision about what he was going to do.

Everything has a price.

 _*Father. The storm ... *_

 _*We're not going to make it,*_ Burle's voice was calm and almost, accepting, of what he knew was going to happen in the next few moments when it came back along the spear thread.

 _*No.*_ Clayton managed to keep his mental voice even. _*The storm is too close. It's almost to the house.*_

Sorrow moved through the thread, but it had strength there, too. _*Then you know what you must do, Clayton. You protect and serve.*_

 _*I protect and serve.*_ He closed his eyes again, as he get a few last minute instructions from his father.

Everything has a price, but it was never an easy one to pay.

"Cassidy, run!" Clayton practically growled the order. "Start running to the landing where the portal will be arriving."

"But what about mother and Poppi?"

"There is no time!" He grabbed her arm as he saw the storm move over their home and take their parents back to the Darkness. _Mother Night, please let them have felt no pain._ "Run, Cassidy! Run as you have never run before!"

"Not without you!"

Yes, she would be stubborn about this right now, he had known that.

"I'll be right with you, I promise. Now drop everything and _run_."

So they ran, but it seemed that the faster they ran, the destructive storm behind them moved just as fast. Finally they made it to the hill where the portal was beginning to pulse to life.

 _*Come on, Cassidy, come on!*_

Cassidy scrambled up the hill, trying not to look over her shoulder and watching everything she knew being swallowed up.

The storm moved up the hill at the same time as the portal opened fully. Cassidy reached for her brother's hand, only to get a surprise when he grabbed her up and hugged her tightly to him.

 _*Remember us, little sister. Rule well.*_

Her eyes widened when she realized what he was saying. "No! No, Clayton, no! You're coming with me!"

Clayton didn't waste any time. He judged how close the black storm was to them and wasn't sure if he could do anything with his Jewels to slow it down and give Cassidy just a little more time to get away. He shook his head, and after holding his sister close to him one more time, he then pivoted on his heel and threw her into the portal with all of his strength. Dharo would die, but one of its Queens would live and carry on.

 _*CLAYTON!*_

Cassidy's mental scream was full of pain and fear, and he hated that he was causing that pain. But, the first rule was not obedience. He protected and he served, and he only wished he had been given a chance to see what kind of Court his sister would draw to her.

And then, he didn't think anything at all.

"Clayton! Clayton! Damn you, Clayton, you take my hand and get in her right now!" It was as close to an order from a Queen as she had ever gotten to given to anyone.

The portal went unstable for a moment, and Cassidy felt sick. When it stabilized itself again, she heard nothing from where she had come from but a silence that ripped through her heart like knives. The portal closed and Cassidy had to force herself to keep moving.

Get back to Fandom.

Get back to Fandom. Let Karla and Shira know what had happened. Once duty was done and Protocol was observed, she would lock herself in her dorm room and let the grief crush her where there was no one there that could see it.

Dharo was gone -- and so were all of the villages and the towns that made up that Territory. Her family, her friends and those that might one day have been her people had been killed and erased.

There were words and reports that she needed to say, and things that she would need to write out for Karla and maybe Karla's uncle, maybe the High Lord, could stop this from happening to anyone else in Kaeleer.

Yes, she had to find words to get through the next few days, but for Dharo and its people, the rest was silence.


End file.
